Hi
I’m trying to make a CrashPlan-like backup on my private cloud (Transporter).
I’d like to know which files should be backed so that they can be retrieved in case of complete loss or destruction of my Mac.
Please note I’m using Scrivener with Dropbox, I therefore have set Scrivener to export my projects to my Documents folder each time I shut down an opened project.
Thanks.
I have done something similar with SpiderOak. The main thing you want are your active projects, which sound to be located in the Dropbox folder, so make sure they are included. The routine backups that Scrivener creates are really good to have remotely backed up as well, so I would select that target folder in your backup settings. The third thing you might consider backing up is your support folder (use the main Scrivener folder to open that if you don’t know where it is), particularly if you have invested a lot of time in making your own templates and such. That’s where everything except the application preferences themselves are stored. Compile presets, custom icons, scriptwriting settings, etc. The other spot that may be important to you is the Scratch Pad folder.
Thank you very much for your reply!
That’s correct. I’ll then have a backup of what’s in Dropbox in case there’s a problem with Dropbox, right?
If I follow you well, you mean “Scrivener Saved Preferences” (which I saved in “Dropbox > Scrivener” too)?
Maybe you can tell me where Scrivener support folder is (I have my “user/library” readily available in Finder’s Sidebar) so that I can see exactly what you mean.
So, nothing from “user/library/preferences”, is that right?
That said, although I know this is not the proper forum to ask this question but what about Scapple too? (that might avoid another post for, maybe, a simple answer…).
Yeah, pretty much. Of course if Dropbox makes a mess, that mess might end up getting backed up too, so the main question is whether it is easy to restore to a specific backup for the entire project folder rather than piece by piece. The automated backups are usually the best route to take in case of sync damage, as they will represent the last time the project was closed cleanly. But restoring a project damaged by sync is a whole different topic. 
Fortunately it is not something you have to worry about too much if you take care and make sure sync is always done before loading projects or shutting down the computer.
The support folder location depends on whether you are using the Mac App Store version or not, which is why I just suggested using the menu. If you are using that, it will be easier to just located it with the “Reveal Support Folder in Finder” menu command as Apple has dictated these be supremely buried deep in the Library folder. For the direct-sale version, it’s just the standard Library/Application Support/Scrivener/ folder.
You could back up the com.literatureandlatte.* files, but a better alternative is to just periodically save your preferences via the “Manage” button in preferences. The literal prefs files will contain machine specific information that won’t be useful in a full restore scenario. Note that if you save your preferences as a preset, they will be stored in Application Support—so you wouldn’t need to do anything if you were already backing that location up.
Scapple is much easier, just make sure you .scap files are backed up.